Welcome to “I'm Glad You Asked” where two CHEO experts – Dr. Phil Ritchie and Dr. Hazen Gandy – will answer your questions about mental health. If you have a general question you would like answered in this forum, submit your question on the form below. We’ll do our best to answer as many questions as possible and we’ll maintain complete anonymity at all times. No personal, identifying information will be included with your question.
Dr. Gandy is a psychiatrist at CHEO as well as the Chair of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. Dr Ritchie is a psychologist at CHEO who specializes in mood and anxiety disorders, urgent care, disaster response and helping parents build resilient teens.
“I'm Glad You Asked” is an educational forum for discussion of general mental health questions and issues. When you submit a question through the form on this page, you are agreeing to have your question - and its response - posted to this website.
Urgent medical concerns and questions - or requests for assessments and diagnosis - should be directed immediately to your family doctor or the appropriate community agency. For a list of mental health services see our Community Resources page.
Here are some of the questions we have already received:
NEW - Advice on how to help a child manage his anxiety...